


Shouyou’s Guide to Cheering Up Kageyama (and Drowning)

by myfandomruinedmylife



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Beach Volleyball, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Fluff, He’s Fine Though, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Kageyama Tobio is Bad at Feelings, Kageyama Tobio is Sad, M/M, Protective Kageyama Tobio, Slice of Life, Volleyball Dorks & Nerds, and be cuties, he just scares kags, not right away lmao, oh he almost drowns as well, that’s important, they hang out at the beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 20:45:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15227541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myfandomruinedmylife/pseuds/myfandomruinedmylife
Summary: Hinata sometimes wondered if Kageyama even liked him that much.





	Shouyou’s Guide to Cheering Up Kageyama (and Drowning)

Shouyou’s Guide to Cheering Up Kageyama (and Drowning)

-

Hinata sometimes wondered if Kageyama even liked him that much. 

Sure, he was fine sometimes, teasing him and picking fights, but other days he was just... quiet. Hinata didn’t particularly like the quiet; it made him anxious, but if Kageyama didn’t want to talk, he tried not to prompt him.

Other days, Hinata would fill the silence. He would go on about his afternoon, wringing his hands together on their walk home, smiling genuinely when Kageyama spared him a glance or two. Sometimes, he twirled a volleyball between his splayed fingertips as they walked, and sometimes he tossed it up in a sporadic rhythm. 

That was when, without fail, Kageyama always started acting like himself again. Sure, it consisted of a lot of “dumbass, Hinata!” and less-than-harmful punches, but it was better than that expression he always made when the silence stretched too long between them. It wasn’t like Hinata hadn’t called him out on it, either. If anything, he tried his best  _ to  _ point it out to his friend whenever he noticed.

“Your face,” Hinata had said one day. Kageyama’s tired glare had snapped to his bright, open expression, curious and without any malintent. “What about it?”

Hinata made a vague gesture with his hands. “It’s stupid looking.”

“Dumbass!” Kageyama ground out instantly, reaching for his spiker and gripping his fiery orange hair like second nature. 

“Ow, ow, Kageyama!” Hinata tried to push his hand away, but he was laughing. “Stop, I’ll go bald!”

“Dumbass,” Kageyama had murmured, retracting his hand and tucking it away in his pocket. He wasn’t looking down at his best friend anymore, and Hinata frowned next to him, tilting his head. “Is that all you know how to say?”

“...Hinata, dumbass!”

+++

Hinata sometimes wondered if Kageyama even liked him that much. 

He talked a lot, sure, but he always seemed to notice when his setter had fallen quiet. Usually, he gave him his space, filling the silence animatedly, but today was different.

Today, they were about to play  _ volleyball,  _ Kageyama’s favorite thing in the  _ whole entire galaxy,  _ maybe even the  _ universe,  _ and yet here he sat, completely silent.

Hinata’s knee pressed into his, the grass tickling the bare skin where their shorts had ridden up, arm brushing against his thigh. He tried to get Kageyama fired up, even leaning close to his face and pressing a cheek to his forehead to see if he had a fever, but all the ravenet did was lean away with a scowl, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Hinata, Kageyama!” Daichi popped open the sunscreen bottle a few meters away, Sugawara brushing his silver hair off his forehead and grinning cutely next to him. Their captain gently applied the lotion onto the older boy’s pale, rosy cheeks, tapping his friend’s nose affectionately before glancing up at the freak duo. “You up to play?”

“Yeah,” Kageyama dipped his head respectfully, and Hinata bristled. He talked to  _ Daichi  _ before him? 

Before his eyes, Kageyama slowly rose to his feet - a zombie in his own skin, and jogged over to the third-years. The sun streamed through the trees above, wind whispering past the branches. Down the hillside and by the beach, Nishinoya clung to Asahi’s back like a koala, nimble hands weaving through his friend’s long brown hair as he adjusted his grip. Kageyama and Tanaka joined them, helping Ennoshita set up.

He was... fine. Kageyama was acting normal; talking, yelling. To everyone but him.

“Oi,” a voice startled Hinata out of whatever daze he’d fallen into, and the ginger snapped his head up to two figures blocking the sun just in front of him. Tsukishima pulled his headphones down, leaving them hooked around his neck as Yamaguchi threaded his fingers together, leaning into him slightly and swaying on his feet. Hinata pushed himself up with dorkish grace, almost losing his balance but saving himself at the last moment by falling into a roll like Nishinoya had taught him.

Tsukishima eyed the short boy warily from behind his glasses, raising a curious eyebrow when Hinata bounded down the hill before them, shoulders tenser than they had been just that morning.

...Hinata sometimes wondered if Kageyama even liked him that much.

+++

The game had been going fine, he thought. Because that’s what he always thinks right before something goes wrong.

Because it genuinely  _ had;  _ they were up by three points, and Hinata discovered his favorite thing to do was break into a run on the slick, wet wood of the dock below him, jump into a spike as Kageyama easily tossed the ball into his awaiting palm, and then fall into the water with a splash. 

Nishinoya laughed every time, making Asahi tempt a grin and Sugawara laugh into his palm, toes digging into the sand below him as he prepared another set.

Daichi had warned the first year to be careful; he wouldn’t want to injure himself with something as stupid as that. Hinata waved off his concerns, because of  _ course  _ he thought he would be fine, and of  _ course  _ he was proven wrong within minutes.

The game had been going fine. He watched Sugawara toss the ball to Daichi, who easily connected and passed it over. Tsukishima jumped to block, but it nicked the tips of his fingers and passed his reach, skyrocketing to the water below. Kageyama was under it within seconds, cobalt eyes locked onto the ball as he, with ease, set it up to where he knew Hinata would be waiting. 

The tiny spiker jumped to life, feet slamming against the cold wood as he prepped to jump, hand already tingling as he imagined the heft of the leather snug in his palm, imagined it slamming across the court just as it had thousands of times before.

And that’s when his world came crashing around him.

Literally.

His foot hit the deck wrong, momentum propelling him forward as his heel slipped out from under him and he went down. Hinata felt the impact on his back first, then his vision flashed red as his head slammed down after. And then all he could feel was frigid water surrounding him, escaping up his nose, down his throat, head screaming and vision blurring and holy shit, he was sinking.

His limbs felt like liquid, arms floating unhurriedly above him, the bright rays of sun breaching the surface and warming his skin. The dock couldn't have been that far above him - maybe ten feet? Hinata had slipped near the end of it, so he wouldn’t put it past himself to have fallen into deeper water.

He vaguely wondered why he wasn’t swimming towards the surface. The kid’s eyes were half-lidded, fingers splayed toward the sun, hair floating around his head like it were suspended in time. 

It was serene; peaceful, even, and Hinata wondered if he could have enjoyed the view of a few blurry figures laughing above him if his head didn’t hurt so much. What... What just happened?

Something registered the pain in his lungs, then his head; how it felt like fire was creeping up his throat and almost choking a scream from his lips, how it felt like nails were dragging down his chest by the thousand, leaving bloody gashes in their wake, but all he could really pay attention to was the overwhelming need to just... let his eyes fall closed for a while. He would worry about how long he’d been under and what was going on when he finished his nap.

At least, that’s what he would have done.

That’s what he was planning on doing, especially when he saw the trickle of deep red blood drift above him, tiredly deciding he would worry about that another day, and especially when he felt his back hit the ground below, stirring up sand and rocks from the sudden disturbance.

That’s what he  _ would  _ have done, if it weren’t for the figure diving into the water above him, kicking frantically - desperately, even - to try and reach Hinata. The first year wondered what that was all about, but as soon as a rough, calloused hand snatched his wrist with a grip hard as stone, reality hit him square in the face.

He was drowning.

Hinata panicked at the thought, choking more water into his lungs as the faceless kid yanked Hinata flush against his chest, one hand wrapped securely around his waist while the other cupped the back of his head. The ginger boy coughed, trying to get oxygen into his system, and began to thrash in his savior’s arms when a shaking hand covered his mouth, pushing off the lake’s floor with all of his might and breaching the surface with in seconds.

Hinata didn’t realize he was screaming until he heard the tear in his voice, and more foreign hands were grabbing at his shoulders, his wrists, his sides. People were shouting around him, fuzzy voices blending together as Hinata dropped to his knees and wretched.

He choked up the water he’d swallowed, body shaking pathetically as he let out another broken scream, the sound blending into a choppy sob as warm hands were rubbing his back, massaging the tension out of his shoulders.

Hinata registered Daichi and Sugawara in front of him, trying to meet his eyes and pushing his hair back in concern, rubbing his arms weakly before a towel was draped over his shoulders. He leaned into the warmth, trembling from head to toe as Ennoshita paced back and forth before them, dialing what he assumed was an ambulance - or at least Takeda-Sensei, who would surely bring some bandages for his head.

Hinata’s breath wheezed out of his lungs, and somebody else dropped down next to their captain, sopping wet and shaking almost as much as Hinata.

“Dumbass,” Kageyama coughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and leaning his trembling fist into the sand below him. He shook some water out of his eyes, mouth opening to release a shaky breath that almost broke into a cry.

Numbly, Hinata coughed back, tilting his head at the weak attempt of mimicry, analyzing Kageyama’s response. His setter regarded him numbly, blinking once before breaking into another cough. Hinata coughed as well, mimicking the way his other hand was tapping onto his knee cap impatiently.

After all the time he’d known Kageyama, he estimated he could pretty much predict his upcoming actions, the words about to leave his tongue in a bite. Hinata braced himself for the cursing, for the hair grabbing and weak punching and angry yelling.

That’s probably why he didn’t expect Kageyama Tobio, the silent first-year, to screw up his face, eyes closing as his mouth trembled unsteadily, nor did he expect the younger boy to half-sob something that sounded suspiciously like “Shouyou, dumbass,” before Hinata was crawling into his embrace without thinking.

Strong arms wrapped around his back, and he looped his around Tobio’s neck, exhaling quietly when his setter buried his nose into the crook of Hinata’s neck, mouthing something into his skin and pulling him close, as if he couldn’t believe he was really there.

They stayed like that, pressed together, until the ambulance pulled into the parking lot. They showed up a full fifteen minutes later, and paramedics gently pulled them apart to make sure Hinata didn’t have a concussion from the fall.

+++

Sometimes, ever so often, Hinata wondered if Kageyama even liked him that much.

Personally, as Kageyama linked their fingers together hours later, leaning a tired head onto his shoulder and sighing disbelievingly, Shouyou came to the quiet realization that maybe he didn’t have to worry about that as much as he’d originally thought.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you sm for reading!! any and all kudos and comments are super appreciated,, I honestly just needed a fluff fic so I provided one aaaa


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